SolarPower Europe today released its flagship publication titled ‘Flexibility: Strengthening the Grid with Battery Storage and Demand Response,’ accompanied by a dedicated Flexibility Strategy Day that brought together EU policymakers, regulators, system operators, and leaders from the solar and storage industries. Both the report and the event come at a critical time for Europe’s energy transition, as the continent faces rising electricity demand, climate challenges, and the increasing need to integrate large volumes of renewable energy.
The central message emphasized throughout the discussions is that Europe must significantly scale up energy system flexibility to safeguard energy security, enhance competitiveness, and achieve its climate objectives. With electricity demand projected to increase by 50% by 2030, deploying flexible solutions has become essential not only for absorbing growing renewable generation but also for preventing grid congestion, reducing curtailment, and ensuring a stable balance between supply and demand.
The publication outlines how flexible technologies can deliver substantial benefits for Europe by 2030, including reducing electricity prices by up to 25 percent, saving around €130 billion in avoided fossil fuel imports, and preventing an estimated 151 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. Despite these opportunities, Europe still lacks a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to fully unlock its flexibility potential.
To address this gap, SolarPower Europe’s recommendations propose a structured path centered on three key pillars: adopting a flexibility-first mindset in grid planning and development, maximizing the role of demand response across all consumer segments, and accelerating the deployment of battery storage with an ambition to scale the EU’s current storage capacity tenfold by 2030.
Speaking on the importance of these measures, Dries Acke, Deputy CEO of SolarPower Europe, emphasized that flexibility is now the defining challenge for Europe’s evolving energy system. He noted that integrating higher shares of renewables, protecting consumers from price volatility, and making efficient use of existing grid infrastructure all require flexibility-focused planning and investment. He highlighted that the rapid expansion of demand response and the transformative potential of affordable, high-performing battery storage must become central priorities for policymakers.
Catarina Augusto, Head of System Integration at SolarPower Europe and Lead Author of the report, added that Europe urgently needs a unified and forward-looking roadmap to mainstream flexibility throughout the energy system. She stressed that unlocking the full value of demand response involves ensuring that consumers—whether households, businesses, or industries—have fair and equal access to energy markets and can benefit financially from their ability to shift demand.
She further noted that scaling up battery storage and establishing clear policies are essential for supplying the level of flexibility required for the coming decade. For this reason, SolarPower Europe is calling for an EU Flexibility Strategy supported by a dedicated Battery Storage Action Plan to strengthen Europe’s readiness for future energy challenges and secure long-term system reliability.
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